About
Sevitar is a company formed by Viveka (formerly Wiveka) Ramel, Ph.D. that provides psychotherapy and psychological consulting and education. Viveka is a licensed clinical psychologist in California (PSY22417) with more than 20 years of experience doing individual, couples, and group psychotherapy, conducting neuropsychological research, teaching students and trainees, consulting and offering leadership training to individuals and organizations, and writing on matters related to psychology and behavioral science. Regardless of the facet of work, Viveka is committed to deep inquiry, experiential connection, and awareness grounded in function and context. She offers discerning and compassionate psychological support and empowerment to those who seek to to cultivate authentic presence, psychological flexibility, and relational attunement. Her work is rooted in evidence-based psychology and contemplative traditions and she welcomes all sexual, gender, ethnic, racial, neurodiverse and sociocultural identities and expressions in her practice and work.
Born and raised in Sweden, Viveka spent time working, volunteering and studying language, philosophy and contemplative practices in France and India before moving to the U.S. in 1995. She obtained her doctorate degree in clinical psychology with specialties in experimental research and neuropsychology from University of California San Diego and San Diego State University. This was followed by three years of postdoctoral applied affective neuroscience research and psychotherapy practice at the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Stanford University. In 2009 she founded Sevitar and in 2010 she co-founded San Francisco Center for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (SF-ACT), two psychotherapy and psychological consulting and education practices in San Francisco. She has taught mindfulness based emotional intelligence, mental sustainability and resilience programs to organizations (e.g., via the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute and Happy Brains @ Work), is trained as a ProSocial facilitator, offers workshops and teaches about relationships, psychotherapy, and climate psychology (e.g., offered a course on psychology and climate change at Lund University, Sweden), and is active in the ACBS Climate Justice and Action SIG. She is currently based in San Francisco with her family and spends time in Sweden every year.
For more information about Viveka’s professional background, see her CV.